Faculty Cares, Resources Help
It is important to maintain high retention rates. Some withdrawals are necessary and avoidable, and there is nothing that the faculty members or the institution can do to avoid the withdrawal. However, it is the unnecessary withdrawals that these modules focus on. The key to avoiding unnecessary student withdrawals is early detention and prevention. Unnecessary withdrawals occur because of stressors. There are hordes of organizations and services setup to deal with these stressors. The instructor has more contact with the students than any other faculty on the campus. Good faculty will make themselves available and accessible and show that they care about their students. They do this by building rapport with their students. Once rapport is built, the faculty member will be able to pick up on certain things, even when the student keeps the issue to him/herself. For example, someone who usually participates a lot in class suddenly becomes quite, more disinterested, as though there’s a lot on his/her mind. This is a flag indicator that something has happened in this student’s life, the onset of a stressor. The instructor may not be able to solve the student’s problem, but as long as s/he is knowledgeable of the services that the institution offers, the instructor can put the student in touch with the right person. Right person, right place, right time equals alleviated stressor and greater potential at the student remaining and succeeding.
Audrey, communication is the key to many issues. Your faculty has to have confidence that the culture supports problem solving.
It's always important to spend some time and talk to your faculty and make sure your faculty is talking back to you. I've been surprised more than once by student issues that I was unaware of. Occasionally I need to remind my faculty to also talk to me when they discover student issues.
Giving students additional resources to help them in their personal lives is essential. Sometimes their enviornment can become overwelming. Students need a strong support team encouraging them to push forward to achieve their goals.
Students are sometimes amazingly eager to share about their personal problems. Since these may become retention issues, it is important that we LISTEN to the students. Often that is enough--the student just needs someone to listen. Sometimes the situation calls for action. If the instuctor is equipped to help, he/she should. If not, the incident should be referred (with the student's permission) to someone more qualified to help.
Most of these students are young and all they really need is quidance from someone who has the knowledge in certain areas to assist them with their issues. Giving them some input on how to solve their problems whenever possible could be the difference between retaining them and losing them.
I have found that simply communicating with your students and allowing them to talk through whatever they seem to be going through helps them make the next step which in hand can make the difference as to whether they withdraw or stay.
